Starting With Emilio
by Everlane
Summary: Five years ago, they were supposed to make something of themselves. New York offered the doorway. And they were young, around the age of twenty three, wanting to take the world by storm. Slight AU. Pezberry.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, just the story idea._

…

**Starting With Emilio**

It's been two weeks, and she still hasn't made a move. Lima Heights Adjacent hasn't changed much over the six months she's been away. It's still plain and simple, an array of similar colored houses either lined up or adjacent to sidewalks and narrow roads.

There's that airy smell, the smell of clean cut grass and sometimes some good cooking food coming from a house. Some old residents still sit on porches, looking like they have nothing else to do than sit and talk a mile about their biography. And the boys of the neighborhood still mess around, especially that bushy haired kid who rides his red bicycle and picks on little girls. She's scowling at him, and he's real fat now.

There are the same convenience stores that seem to grow with age, but were still standing strong. She used to go to the one near her house a lot to get coffee, even though she had no job to drink that for. But whatever. Lima Heights was still Lima Heights, and she knew that the whole damn town would stay that way until some comet hits the earth.

And yeah, that god damned street light in front of her house still isn't fixed.

Santana Lopez scowled a little at her misery. Why did this have to happen to her, out of all the people in the world? She's back home from that hellhole called a rehabilitation center, so she should be happy about it. But she left this same house she's looking at in a rage, and she got so high afterward that she didn't even know where she was at.

This _sucks._

But it wasn't so bad though. She did see a couple of old friends, but not that much. Quinn was too busy ignoring her because she doesn't hang out with crackheads. And Brittany's just Brittany. She's now traveling around the world with some big star dancing in the background, and she still accepts Santana with warm open arms like always.

Right now she was staying over at Puck's place because she's too chicken shit to go inside her own house. Well...her parent's place. She's like really thinking of what to say, or what to even do once she gets past that front door and sees her wife and kid...if she even knocks on that door.

"You gotta see 'em sooner or later..." Puck's being a real douche bag right now, and this was the time she really didn't want to hear his voice. "...and I need my couch back."

"I get it."

"So why aren't you outta my car?"

She rolls her eyes, not even bothering to glare at the man in the gray hoodie behind her as she looks at the house. It's still the same white and brown, and the lawn's as clean as always. Typical. And there was something dull about it, dull like when there was no one to liven it up.

Maybe she was wrong, and maybe Puck was right. She should make up her damn mind and walk to that front door to see her. Santana quints her eyes a little bit, swearing she sees a silhouette of a woman sitting alone in what was the living room. But fuck, she needed to stop thinking about this and just get on with it. How long was she going to just sit there and look for shadows? It's so not her style.

"I'm out." Santana murmurs, hearing Puck grunt and copy her movements.

He takes her bags out, shivering a little against the cold air. But Puck bears it down and gives the woman one of the duffel bags before he follows her towards the porch. Santana ignores the pounding in her heart as she goes pasts the small stone steps, the kind that's so tight and precise that it hurts like hell.

It's Puck who rings the bell when she freezes again. So she's standing there, hearing a little girl's voice and she has to put the back of her free hand against her mouth to swallow her tears. She hasn't seen that kid since like forever. Puck looks at her and notices she can't control herself, so he tells her to step to the side and wipe her face so that the woman who answers the door would see him first.

He rings the bell again, and she hears her wife asking who was it. There are footsteps that were a little hesitant and heavy. She could almost picture the small woman rubbing that belly of hers while she looks through the door hole, just like she used to do with their first kid.

"It's Puck."

The door just rips open so fast that she didn't even realize it happened. She can't see her wife much because she's hiding like a punk near the wall, and now she just can't wait to see how much has changed.

"Is she here?"

When Rachel was nervous, she had a habit of not trying to show it to anyone. But that always never worked, because Rachel's eyes would be moving more than her blabbering mouth.

Santana stood there, straightening her self as Puck gestured towards her.

"_Mami!"_

Whoa, she didn't even see her hiding behind Rachel's leg. It's not supposed to mean anything she guessed, but hell, to hear her girl speak so clearly so the first time after just seeing her in diapers months ago makes her break down.

Delia's grown big. She feels it when she's almost sent to fall on the ground after Delia propels herself into her arms. Santana takes a deep breath, a real big one, and the smell of baby powder makes her take more whiffs. The girl giggled when she kisses her all over her head and cheeks, her tears falling.

She's missed her so much, and when Delia is in her arms she couldn't believe that she was even scared to enter her own house and see her family. Murmurs of endearment in Spanish are sent to Delia, who's the only one hearing them. Her daughter says she misses her in her baby voice, and it's all Santana wants to focus on while Rachel gazes at her.

…

Puck's a straight up punk. Because he leaves like just seconds after she got inside the damn house, making her face all this alone. Ge did even act like the gentlemen and help her unload. But really, was Puck even a gentleman? So now Rachel's in the kitchen cleaning the counter, while she's in the living room while Delia introduces her to her stuffed elephant doll Teddy.

Her parents weren't in the house now. But Rachel told her in a clipped voice that they were at a restaurant and would be back later. Even though it hurts to know that her blood relatives don't want to see you, Santana just shrugged and played with her daughter.

It's easy to forget she had one battle to face when Delia requires lots of attention. She's in this green dress with socks on, and her hair is longer than it used to be the last time Santana was at home. It still curls, framing her round face a little, and Santana loves it.

Her girl's this little ball of energy who still remembers her mami. Her smile is infectious because her cheeks just come out, especially when she laughs. And for a two year old, she's speaking more clearly. She even likes to watch those nice Discovery Kids television shows everyday and knows some stuff.

"Would you like some tea?"

Rachel has a big mug of tea for her, and her nostrils flare up smelling spearmint which likely had honey and lemon inside. She watches Rachel smile softly, before she places the mug on the coffee table in front of her. Santana is expecting her to blow upon her, but nothing comes out. Her dark eyes glance at her stomach that's real big now, and she kind of freezes when Rachel leans down to kiss her cheek.

"Welcome home."

Santana doesn't say anything, because she pulls her down to kiss her.

…

She just can't stop touching it. And to think, Rachel was just a month along when she had to go to that retarded medical center for rehab. Delia is fast asleep in her bedroom, tucked in her Dora the Explorer blankets. They tried to find some words to say for a little while, but how can you say anything when all you could do was think about how much you've missed touching your wife.

Her hands were all over Rachel once they got to the bedroom. She's missed her so much, and she wanted to make everything up to her. And she tells her wife that through whispers against her ear, but Santana doesn't say those three little words yet. Santana wanted to erase the dark memory of her leaving her family that night, a drugged induced mess when she was found hours later.

"I'm so happy you're back..."

She doesn't let Rachel speak yet, opting to shut her up instead while her hands roved her sides. She's on her side on the bed behind her wife, kissing her, and her hands travel downwards. When she felt the petite woman tense and move, she wanted to keep on going and not face what was going to come. But Rachel pulled back from the kiss, emitting a low moan from her.

When Rachel gazes at her, like she's hurt and sad, it kind of makes Santana nervous. "Shit..." She turns away from the other woman, not caring about the fact that she's naked without sheets covering her.

Five years ago, they were supposed to make something of themselves. New York offered the fucking doorway. And they were young, around the age of twenty three, wanting to take the world by storm.

Rachel had her eyes on Broadway, and she had her eyes on graduating from a top medical school. But then, Rachel just wasn't getting the roles...even the small ones. They were struggling, trying to pay their bills in a small horrible apartment while they chased their dreams. But the more they focused on paying that next bill, the more their dreams were just dreams rather than reality.

They were really struggling in New York. Their parents helped out the best they could, but it wasn't enough. And then on top of the bills they had to worry about, her tuition fees started climbing and Rachel just stopped trying.

It just all came crashing down when she was at that place. Rehab. She did a lot of thinking. About Rachel...Delia, especially Delia. Her daughter was too young to notice what was going on. Only a baby. But the kid heard things, and she saw things. Just because she was a baby didn't mean she was stupid. Santana knew she was aware of what was going on with mami.

Shit. "Santana look at me..." Warm hands caresses her shoulders, and she feels a weight on them. Then when she smells jasmine and feels hair, as well as Rachel's lips against her temple,she tries to hold herself together. "You didn't come to lament, remember? I just want you home and well." Another peck.

When Lima became their last option, Santana just lost it, especially when they lived with her parents. Just like they still did now. Then she and Rachel began to fight a lot, and this was a year before Delia was born. She was using heroine and other kinds of things to quell the pain and the humiliation, but of course, the drugs only made failure more intense.

So they try to feel more settled and forget about New York. They had this crazy idea that all would be better if they had a child to complete their family with her older brother as a donor. But Delia came and the fights about who does what just kept on coming, especially when the drugs were still there to sniff.

Still they never regret bringing Delia to the world. Not when she held Rachel's hand during those long hours at the hospital, and not ever. And they tried to have another baby too, thus Rachel's current condition right now. But it doesn't make them better, the real problem was Santana and the drugs.

"Santana." She blinks. "Come back to bed..."

Her voice breaks and makes Santana turn to see that she's about to cry. They hug tightly, bodies pressed against each other among white sheets. She pushes her wife back gently on the bed, hovering over her while their lips meld against each other.

"I know...I know." Santana says against her lips before she delves in again, her arm hooking under Rachel's to raise her leg up. "I'm so sorr-"

Rachel doesn't even let her finish. "Forget about that." She pulls back, biting her lower lip. "I want us to start over again."

Santana pauses and stares down at Rachel for a while, her elbow keeping her from lying on the bed flat down. Then she sees it. That spark she used to see in her wife's eyes years ago, it only came when she was real determined to do something. And she wasn't alone, Santana was willing to do this with her every step of the way.

"I'm not going to make Broadway but..." Her lids lower.

"You'll make it." Santana said firmly. "And I'm not kidding Rache...we're gonna make it." She laid on the bed near her wife, her hand finds her way to Rachel's stomach.

"Do you honestly believe that?"

She smiles. "With my heart."

Rachel returns the same gesture, except her eyes are watery. She looks at Santana's wavering hand for a moment before she looks back up. "I named him after your grandfather."

"It's a boy?" Santana asked, grinning.

"Yeah." Rachel laughs.

"Alright." She kisses her forehead, arms pulling the petite woman closer to her body. "Emilio Andres Lopez it is then." She feels a nod over her chest.

…

Months later their son is born in the local hospital her father worked at. She could tell that everyone is disapproving of him, because Emilio came at a time where they still need to work things over just like Delia was. Her papi says that she and Rachel should have thought twice before deciding to have their kids with her older brother as a donor, but she knows deep inside that her kids were here through fate.

When she held that little boy in her arms, watching his red and round wrinkled face as he wailed, she knew that good things were going to happen. In some ways, her little boy reminded her that she couldn't go back to her old ways with a syringe and drugs to heal her.

Now she has this surge of confidence she carries while she works at a local bar and Breadstix saving money for law school, and Rachel busts her ass at the local community theater doing plays. Delia and Emilio always hang out there and now everyone knows their names, and sometimes Delia gets a little cameo now and then. Emilio is the real star there. All he had to do was chill in his baby seat and then everyone gushes over him like a flock of pigeons. He's a genius.

They move to California where she completes law school and gets this top earning job working for a firm there. Ironically, it's an entertainment law firm. Rachel isn't on Broadway yet, but she did get this supporting role in an Oscar Award winning Steven Spielberg movie and it opens doors for her in Hollywood. So yeah, she was still working.

She's like...the oldest new kid on the block. And Santana likes to tease Rachel about it all the time, but of course she learned to stop it when Rachel kind of gets pissed off about it. But all in all, they were pretty much alright. What's more to want?

…

**The End**

**End Note:** I don't know what came over me, lol. This is a one shot and nothing more. I plan to add some more one shots and multi-shots but not for this storyline, so stay tuned. But what do you think of this one?


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